Clamping ring lever compensation



0ct. 3, 1939. R. CAMPBELL ET AL- ,1 1

CLAMPING RING LEVER COMPENSATION Filed Oct. 1, 1936 Patented Oct. 3, 1939 UNITED STATES CLAMPING RING LEVER COMPENSATION Robert Campbell, West New Brighton, Staten Island; N. Y., and John R. Proctor, Bayonne, N. J assignors to Atlas Steel Barrel Corporation, Bayonne, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application October 1,

7 Claims.

This invention relates to clamping rings for providing a fluid-tight seal between an openended drum and its associated closure member and has particular reference to the actuating mechanism for such a ring. This application constitutes a continuation in-part of Patent No. 2,125,767, August 2, 1938.

It has become customary in this art to utilize channel-shaped rings provided with split ends for the purpose of forcing the fiange of a closure member tightly down upon the rolled bead of an open-ended drum. Various types of actuating mechanism for drawing the ring ends together after the same has been positioned about the as sembled drum and closure member are in common use, and this invention is designed particularly to cooperate with closure mechanisms of the type wherein the ring ends are drawn towards one another simultaneously with substantially equal increments of movement.

An object of the invention is to compensate for variations in the circumference of drums on which the clamping ring is used, or variations in the circumference of the clamping ring'used with drums of uniform circumference. Such variations within a limited range occur frequently in the production of both drums and rings.

Actuating mechanisms for closure rings of this sort frequently use a manually manipulated actuating member swingable across the face of the closure member, such actuating member being anchored in fully closed position to a member fixedly secured to said ring. Thus. the anchoring point is substantially fixed and variations in circumference of either the drum assembly or the clamping ring must be compensated for in some Way on the swing of the actuating lever if the said actuating lever is to reach the fixed anchor point for all such variations.

Various other meritorious features of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawing, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several figures, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan View of our improved mechanism;

Figure 2 is a section through 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan view of a modified form of structure, and

Figure 4 is a section along 44 of Figure 3.

Referring now to Figure 2, the numeral Ill indicates an open-ended drum having a rolled circumferential bead 52 extending about its periphery. The closure member [4 is provided with a peripheral flange it adapted to seat upon the bead i2. A gasket i8 is customarily inserted between the two to assist in providing a fluid-tight seal.

Lugs 22 and 24 are integrally united in suitable 1936, Serial No. 103,616

manner with the ring 20 adjacent the split ends thereof, extending radially inwardly as indicated. Rackv arms 26 and 28 are pivotally secured as at 30 and 32-to the under side of said lugs, the pivot pins extending through slots 34 and 36 to provide a lost-motion connection of the rack arms with their respective lugs. The slot 36 is. preferably formed somewhat in the shape of a deformed heart, providing two alternate extremities at one end thereof, for purposes to be brought out more clearly hereinafter.

A guide member 38 is disposed intermediate the split ends of the ring and is operable to receive the rack arms 26 and 28. A pinion lil having a squared shank 42 is seated within the guide 38 in cooperating relation with the rack arms by means of an apertured washer 44, the squared shank extending down through an opening provided therefor in the lower wall of guide 38.

A primary actuating arm 46 is seated upon the squared shank of pinion 40 and below that is positioned a secondary actuating arm 48, the entire assembly being positioned with reference to guide member 38 by means of a round-headed rivet 50 extending through apertures provided therefor. It will thus be apparent that primary actuating arm 46 functions to rotate the pinion when thesame is swung across the face of the drum closure while secondary arm 48 is pivoted independently to swing across the face thereof. Primary arm i6 is tapered and one side thereof is notched adjacent the extremity as indicated at 52. Secondary arm 48 is so shaped that the two arms may be placed in superposed relation as shown in Figure 1 throughout the length of the primary arm, but said secondary arm is substantially wider than the tapered extremity of the primary arm.

Lugs 54 and 56 are secured in suitable fashion to the secondary arm 48, lug 54 being adapted to engage the notched portion 52 of the primary arm 46 when the secondary arm is swung in one direction. The other lug, 56, is threadedly apertured to receive a set screw 58, the end of which is adapted to abut the side wall of primary arm 46. The arrangement of lugs 54 and 56 is preferably as indicated in the drawing, although obviously the set screw might be associated with either one of the lugs and that side of primary arm 46 opposite the set screw notched to receive the other lug.

'A lug 60 is secured in some suitable manner to the upper side wall of ring 20 at some point remote from the ring end. This lug is provided with a depending flange 62 adapted to retain secondary arm 48 in fixed position after the ring ends have been brought up tight around the drum and closure assembly. As will be apparent, this position of secondary arm with reference to the ring itself is substantially fixed.

The maximum opening between the ends of any given ring equipped with closure mechanism of this sort, or any other, is substantially a constant. For that reason the effective swing of manually operated secondary arm 48 must be adjusted to compensate for rings of varying circumference or drum head assemblies having similar variations if the said secondary arm is to be brought to its fixed position for locking by means of lug 66 while at the same time drawing the ring ends as tightly as possible about any given assembly. The maximum effective swinging movement of secondary arm 48 is obtained when set screw 58 is moved inwardly as far as possible to seat lug 54 within the notch provided therefor at the extremity of primary arm 46. The lost motion possible in this connection is thereby taken up and the entire swing of secondary arm 43 is effective to produce closing movement of the ring ends.

When the set screw 58 is in the position illustrated in Figure 1, there is a relatively great amount of lost motion in the connection between the primary and secondary arms. Under such conditions the swinging movement of secondary arm 48 effective to actually draw the ring ends together is substantially lessened. In this way it is possible to so adjust the secondary with relation to the primary arm that the former may be properly positioned with relation to locking lug 60 regardless of variations in circumference of ring or drum head assembly.

A somewhat modified form of compensating mechanism is illustrated in Figures 3 and 4, wherein lug 64, secured to ring 66 adjacent a split end thereof, is provided with a flange E8 apertured to receive a threaded anchor bolt 19. The said anchor bolt is apertured adjacent one end thereof to receive pivot pin 12 by which the rack arm 14 is pivotally connected to lug 64. A nut 16 adapted to abut the outer side of flange 68 functions to adjustably position the anchor bolt with reference to lug 64. The effective length of the rack arm may therefore be adjusted by pulling in the anchor pin on rotation of nut Hi. This is permissible by reason of the lost-motion connection provided by the slot 18 in lug 64.

As hitherto stated, one of the two slots provided in the lugs associated with each end of the split ring is preferably shaped like a deformed heart, as indicated at 88 and 82 in Figure 3. This feature constitutes an added compensating mechanism in that the maximum opening of the ring ends may be varied slightly depending upon whether the pivot pin 12 is permitted to slide into arm 8!] or more nearly radially positioned arm 82 of slot 18 when the ring ends are opened.

While we have described certain preferred forms of compensating mechanism herein, various modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and for that reason we wish to limit ourselves only within the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. Mechanism of the class described including in combination a normally open-ended split inwardly channeled ring, an arm associated with each respective end thereof and extending in the general direction of the opposite ring end, a member disposed intermediate the ring ends receiving said arms, means including a rotatable element positioned by said member and cooperable with said arms to draw the ring ends together, a lever for actuating said rotatable element, and manually adjustable means forming a lost-motion connection between said lever and rotatable element for varying the extent of relative movement between said ring ends and said lever.

2. In combination with a normally open-ended split inwardly channeled clamping ring, an arm pivotally associated with each respective end thereof, a member disposed between the ends of said ring to receive the arms, rotatable means associated with said member cooperable with said arms for drawing the ring ends together, a inanually operable actuating member having a lostmotion connection with said ring end drawing means, and means for adjusting the extent of lost motion in said connection.

3. A clamping member comprising a normally open-ended split inwardly channeled ring, slotted lugs associated with the ends of said ring, the slot in one lug being of substantially deformed heart shape wherein both arms extend away from the other lug, one arm extending in a more nearly radial direction than the other, arms pivoted within the slots in said lugs, and means positioned by said arms for drawing the same together.

4. A clamping member comprising a normally open-ended split inwardly channeled ring, arms pivotally associated with the ends of said ring through a lost-motion connection, movable means positioned by said arms for drawing the same together, and adjustable mechanism forming a lost-motion connection between said arms and arm actuating mechanism for varying the extent of effective movement of said actuating mechanism in drawing the ring ends together.

5. A removable drum head clamping member including in combination a normally open-ended split inwardly channeled ring, rack arms pivotally associated with the ends of said ring, a guide member positioned intermediate said ring ends slidably receiving said rack arms, a pinion rotatably mounted in said guide in operative relation to said rack arms, means fixedly associated with said pinion for rotating the same, and manually operable means having lost-motion connection with said last mentioned means for actuating the same.

6. A removable drum head clamping member including in combination a normally open-ended split inwardly channeled ring, rack arms pivotally associated with the ends of said ring, a guide member positioned intermediate said ring ends slidably receiving said rack arms, a pinion rotatably mounted in said guide in operative relation to said rack arms, means fixedly associated with said pinion for rotating the same, and manually operable means having lost-motion connection with said last mentioned means for actuating the same, said lost-motion connection including mechanism for varying the extent of lost motion.

7 A clamping member including in combination a normally open-ended split inwardly channeled ring having inwardly extending lugs adjacent the ends thereof, rack arms pivoted to said lugs, a guide member positioned intermediate the lugs slidably receiving said rack arms, a pinion rotatably mounted in said guide in operative relation to said rack arms, a primary lever fixedly associated with said pinion outside said guide member, and a secondary lever movable independently of said primary lever at a lost-motion connection therewith.

ROBT. CAMPBELL. JOHN R. PROCTOR. 

